Demons of all sorts have gathered in the ballroom of the castle, excitedly chatting and awaiting the announcement of the main event. They´re loud. A gigantic clock installed at the top strikes midday, but its reverberations go under in the noise. Soon it will start.

The Assassin is in the ballroom too, though nobody noticed her so far. It took her an exerting amount of practice, but now she can go completely unnoticed by utilizing the Legendary Grade Artifact |Cloak of Time| correctly. Taking cover near the altar where the ritual is held in the vast room´s corner, her guts begin to twist. Or at least it feels like it as with every passing second it becomes more difficult to breathe.

Suddenly, the large doors, which look more like ornamented gates than anything, bang open. The room falls dead silent, all heads turn to the figure standing at the ballroom´s entrance that is escorted by two guards in full-clad black armor on each side.

´Is that the |Demon Lord|?´ ´His grace has arrived´ ´This is my first time seeing him´ ´So that´s him?´ ´Of course! Don´t you feel the immense pressure?´ ´He sure is scarier than any monster I´ve fought´ ´I´ve heard no matter what don´t get on his bad side´

Such and similar whispers start to arise from the quiet, but while every Demon has something to say about their ruler, be it words of admiration or not, the Assassin only manages to gulp.

Gazing down on his vassals, the |Demon Lord| frowns. He begins moving. All eyes follow him treading down to the altar at the other side of the long room, trying to guess his mood, hoping it´s not too bad. The Assassin feels chills running down her spine from his emanating aura. If even she´s influenced to this extent, how do the other Demons feel who are inferior to her in |Levels|?

By now, the |Demon Lord| has reached the stairs that lead up to the altar. He ascends and stops right in front of it, then runs his hand over the inscribed stone plate as if to dust it. He rubs his fingers and furrows his brows, taking his time before looking up and letting his gaze wander around the room. He puts his other hand on his red beard as if finally aware of just how many Demons are watching, waiting for him. Then, to everyone´s surprise, he begins to loudly laugh:

“GAHAHAHAHA! What´s with all your serious faces? Today is a joyous occasion! The Classification Ceremony of my very own daughter, my pride whose potential not even I can descry, my Vienessa!” The |Demon Lord| gestures to his side. There, a female Demon holds a sleeping baby, with two tiny horns protruding its forehead. Their presence was so minuscule that nobody noticed them walking beside the |Demon Lord| until now. Or maybe it´s just that his presence was too much?

A silent moment of confusion follows.

The |Demon Lord| audibly sighs, then snaps his fingers to which luxurious glasses filled with the finest alcoholic brew appear floating in front of everyone gathered. “For one afternoon, forget your duties and attend this festivity as one that will be remembered in history! Cheers and glory to my daughter!”

With these opening words, the |Demon Lord| grabs his own glass out of the air. It takes a moment, but the previous tension eventually turns into cheers filling the room. Glasses are snatched in rejoicing, the buffet is officially opened, the party is now in full motion. Nobles – Supreme Demons, Arch Demons, even Aeria Demons – casually talk to each other, forget manners and eat together.

´Demons being so relaxed around each other, I didn´t even dream of such a scene… Even after being here for years. I have a bad feeling about this…´ the Assassin thinks to herself. For her, this situation is far from relaxing, it´s unexpected, out of hand. Although she performed thousands of assassinations in her life before, this one is different. Everything needs to be perfect for it to succeed.

--

A good time into the party, a clinging sound interrupts the carefree conversations and partying. All attention quickly gathers at its source; The |Demon Lord| tapping a small spoon against a now empty glass.

“My dear guests, my vassals” he announces in a loud voice “I am pleased with the festive mood you have provided, and for that I praise you. I understand some of you might be in conversation, however, I plan to advance the event now.” Heads nod approvingly, not daring to object to their Lord´s decision “Let the Classification Ceremony begin!”

The |Demon Lord| turns to the female Demon who had watched over their daughter the entire time. He takes her hand and guides her to the altar. Once again loud cheers erupt from the crowd. The excitement is evident, no wonder as everyone can´t wait to see the might of their Princess revealed.

Five Demons from the crowd, clothed in beauteous robes finely decorated with golden strings and patterns that are honestly unfit for a Demon’s image, step up to the altar as well. Three of them are Arch Demons while the other two achieved the Aeria Demon realm. The mother carefully strokes her sleeping baby, smiles and lies her in a circle that is drawn in the middle of the stone plate. The |Demon Lord| and the five others place one hand each on the circle´s edge. Shortly, the altar begins glowing in a blue shimmer. The |Demon Lord| grins, expectation and greed in his eyes.

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´Now!´ The Assassin rushes forward. Mid-sprint she pulls her |Phantasmal Dagger|, another Legendary Grade Artifact, from her |Interdimensional Storage| and simultaneously activates three |Skills|. She´s just about to strike, but then... suddenly her knees give out

Huh? Did she fall? Why? She tries everything to get her legs moving again, or any part of her body, but it´s no use. The baby on the altar wakes and begins crying. “What… is the meaning of this?” The |Demon Lord| says in a low voice.

Instead of moving, her body begins trembling.

“There´s nothing… NOTHING!!”

The |Demon Lord| swings his arm, hitting one of the five Demons who assisted with the ceremony. The Demon flies into a wall. Cracks form as he barely survives. The whole room doesn´t know what to think. Some are quick-witted, recognize the danger and flee immediately, the others find themselves frozen. A few guards step forward to find out what´s wrong, only they die without having accomplished anything. The |Demon Lord´s| mood just did a full turnaround. The Assassin can hear the gritting of his teeth as he turns around and looks directly at her

'H-How is he looking at me? Can he see me?´. Due to her panicking, she couldn´t maintain the Mana-flow of |Cloak of Time| properly and thus weakened its effect. Though the |Demon Lord| could see through the Artifact from the very beginning.

In the blink of an eye, he´s in front of her. The next she finds herself in the air, a strong grip crushing her neck.

“A-gh...aa” the Assassin squeals as she dangles around

“And what do you think you´re doing?! I chose to let you be since you didn´t disrupt me, but… Wait” He pulls the Assassin closer to his face and squints his eyes. “Ah, it´s you… the Human”. For a moment, all muscles in her body stop moving, she even forgets that she can´t breathe. Her reaction makes the |Demon Lord´s| tone suddenly change to one of amusement: “What do you look so surprised for? Did you really think I wouldn´t notice a Human among my ranks? Who do you take me for? I know that you Humans are more advanced in Magicology thanks to your daily reports to the dogs back in your realm, so tell me, do you have any explanation for how a Demon with my blood running through its veins turned out to be utterly incompetent?” He waits for a few seconds, but receives nothing in return. “I see I don´t need you anymore” He pulls her even closer and…grins “Well then, as thanks for all your hard work I´ll use you mutts to relieve some of my mood, just like the good old days. Do you understand? Your friends are next, what was her name again? Sophie?”. The Assassin turns blue as his grip tightens even more around her life ´He knew… all… along – fucking Monster´. In a last stand of resistance, she gathers the remaining moisture in her mouth and uses up the rest of her strength to spit in his face. Then, she hears the cracking sound of her neck before lifelessly falling to the floor.

“You´ve got guts for an inferior race”

Turning around, the |Demon Lord| walks back to the altar. The Demons take a few steps back as he reaches out his hands to yank the still-crying baby lying in the middle. Only the mother doesn´t retreat, although she wants to. Mustering all her courage, she wraps her arms around his outstretched hand before he can get to their child. She then stammers in a panicked voice:

“N-No, Please! Don´t do it! Don´t hurt her!”

The |Demon Lord| slowly turns his head and looks her in the eyes. “Marilena, release my hand.”

“I´m begging you, please don´t do anything rash!” she cries in distress

“Release. My. Hand.” He repeats

“I´ll do anything… Anything! She´s just a baby, our baby!”

This wasn´t the reply he wanted to hear.

“YOU! KNOW YOUR PLACE AND DON´T DARE SPEAK OF THIS THING AS MY CHILD!”

…

Many guards´ lives pass while protecting the queen. In the end, they´ve achieved their goal as the |Demon Lord| seems slightly out of breath. Marilena is on her knees, her gaze on the ground. She´s only slightly hurt. Nonetheless, she´s crying, but not due to the pain of her wounds.

“Fine, I won´t be taking its life.” The |Demon Lord| then speaks. For a moment the queen looks up, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. But then he raises his hand and points at the baby “Banish this garbage from my realm. If anyone dares to bring it back to the |Demons´ Domicile|, both die. Send her to the Humans´ Habitat, it will be destroyed soon enough anyways.”

The hope in her eyes goes as quickly as it came: “That is killing her!” The mother squeals

“Silence! I´ll get to you later for dirtying my bloodline! Lock her into her room!” The |Demon Lord´s| words resound with finality throughout the now red-colored ballroom.

“No! Please, don´t!” The woman cries, tears streaming down her face as she is dragged away by five guards. She tries to free herself from their grip, but however strong she may be, she can´t compete against five elites. Their whispers of ´Sorry´ give the final blow to her strength.

Two of the Demons who helped in the Classification Ritual survived the havoc. They nod at each other and press their hands together, their bodies begin glowing. The |Demon Lord| turns around and heads to exit the ballroom.

“No…” is the Queen´s last whisper. The baby also begins glowing and disappears with the two Aeria Demons into thin air.